This invention relates to an integrated-circuit support device employed in a system for the selection of circuits which are characterized by high reliability, selection being performed as a function of severe thermal and dynamic stresses on the principle known as dynamic burn-in testing. Equipment of this type serves to induce accelerated aging of components and failure of those components which are not capable of withstanding the stresses applied during the test. The other components which conform to the desired standards will thus be selected for subsequent fabrication of equipment components which exhibit a minimum failure rate and therefore a high degree of reliability.
An integrated-circuit support device is understood to refer to the array of plates provided for this purpose and placed within an oven in order to be subjected to predetermined operating stresses at high temperature, said plates being also intended to receive a predetermined number of dynamic signals from signal-generating circuits located outside the oven. An integrated-circuit support plate essentially consists of a large-sized printed circuit which is capable of withstanding extreme temperatures of high value and ranging from -55.degree. C. to +125.degree. C., provision being made for supports soldered on the printed circuit which is intended to receive the integrated circuits to be selected. The printed circuit design is such that only integrated circuits of one and the same type are accepted on a given plate and that the corresponding terminal pins having the same reference number are wired in parallel.
In known constructions, parallel wiring is carried out by means of a parent card and daughter cards positioned vertically on the parent card. The daughter cards remain dedicated to each type of integrated circuit and the circuit arrangement makes it possible to process a maximum of only seven signals which are transmitted to the integrated circuits.
A first disadvantage results from the large number of different plates which are necessary in order to cover the different ranges of existing integrated circuits. Apart from a few specific and special arrangements, the integrated circuits can be divided into three types on the basis of the terminal-pin connection system. The pitch of the terminal pins remains at a standard value of 1/10 of an inch but the distance between the two rows of pins has three values as follows: a first value of 3/10 of an inch in the case of circuits having up to twenty terminal pins, a second value of 4/10 of an inch in the case of circuits having twenty-two terminal pins, and a third value of 6/10 of an inch in the case of circuits having more than twenty-two terminal pins.
Practical requirements also entail an almost unlimited increase in the number of plates as a function of specification conditions laid down by users.
Plates of existing types also suffer from further limitations, especially in the field of individual protection of integrated circuits in which, in the case of known arrangements, daughter cards are provided as a rule only with current-limiting resistive elements.